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Lindi Ortega dubbed her new album Faded Gloryville after having a “What am I doing with my life?” moment while watching the 2009 film Crazy Heart.

One scene, in particular, wherein hard-drinkin’, gone-to-seed country star Jeff Bridges winds up suffering the ignominy of playing a bowling alley, rang a little bit too true for comfort. In a flash, Ortega saw how easily a similar fate could befall her or any other professional musician who’s had a fleeting taste of success. Was she looking at her future?

Fortunately for us, Ortega didn’t pack it all in at that moment and seek out a desk job. Instead, she wrote the weary title track to Faded Gloryville, out August 7. In so doing, she found an imaginary home for the down-on-their-luck characters, victims of heartbreak and boozed-up ne’er-do-wells who populate her alluringly scuffed-up country tunes.

“In this industry, unless you get signed at 19 and get a big record deal and a huge hit and things sort of hit the stratosphere, there’s the other side of it, which is working really hard and touring really hard and ups and downs and ebbs and flows,” says Ortega, 35.

“And there come times when you genuinely doubt yourself and question your abilities and question whether you’re going anywhere. You think about the other side — maybe it’s nice to have job security, maybe it’s nice to have a retirement fund, maybe it’s nice to be in one place for a little bit …

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“I think a lot of people often see the ‘glory’ side of the music industry or the romanticized side — photo shoots and music videos and people writing about you and coming to your shows and it’s all so incredible and amazing. And part of it is, but there’s a whole other side and it’s a very real side, especially for artists who are working their tails off just trying to survive.”

Ortega got a taste of the “lows” a few years ago when a much-ballyhooed major-label deal with Interscope imprint Cherrytree Records went south after just a single EP, The Drifter, in 2008. The suits wanted someone they could sell easily and Ortega, with her punk-rock swagger and Goth sensibilities, was just a little too complex for mainstream country radio. They dropped her like a hot potato.

“That was my first time visiting Faded Gloryville,” she laughs. “A lot of people, at that point — and I wouldn’t blame them — would just give up and go ‘This isn’t happening for me.’”

Ortega’s been doing fine on manager Chris Taylor’s Last Gang label ever since, reaching an altogether new level of visibility after moving to Nashville in 2011 to make 2013’s acclaimed Tin Star. She doesn’t really fit a “scene” in Music City, either, but now she’s got access to a wealth of potential co-writers and a web of connections that led her to record a few old-school R&B-tinged numbers for Faded Gloryville. She recorded at Alabama’s fabled Muscle Shoals studio with help from Alabama Shakes keyboardist Ben Tanner and ex-Civil Wars guitarist John Paul White.

“It’s hard to gauge success because it’s so slow,” says Ortega. “There isn’t, like, a marker that says ‘I did this and now I can fill all these rooms forever and everything’s great.’ It’s a really slow climb, and you’re working so hard it’s hard to sort of sit back and reflect on what you’ve accomplished so far.

“There’s a line in the song “Faded Gloryville” that says ‘You can’t get back all the dues you’ve paid.’ Yeah, you’ve paid them. But that doesn’t mean you’re gonna get anything back.”

Lindi Ortega dropped by the newsroom last week to perform for the Star’s Newsroom Concert Series.

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